Thoughts on International Women’s Day
I find there is always a lot of buzz about International Women’s Day (IWD). One of my friends has an interesting point of view. She “loathes” IWD because she feels women should be honoured every day. I gave that some thought this year, and that led me to think more about Violence Against Women and Intimate Partner Violence.
Intimate partner violence and violence against women continues to be a huge issue in every part of our society, our country and our world. The World Health Organization notes that “Intimate Partner Violence is one of the most common form of violence against women”, (WHO 2023). In fact, if you are a woman reading this, you have likely experience Intimate Partner Violence yourself, or you know someone who has. Women’s Shelters in every part of Canada are almost always full, and have been for many years.
Women continue to die at the hands of their intimate partners. Just look at the newspaper and news sites. Almost every day we hear about the death of yet another woman at the hands of her partner.
Why? Why does this continue to happen in 2023? Over the years I have worked in the social service/health field women continue to suffer violence. I don’t really have the answer as to why this is. What I do know is that every woman everywhere deserves to live her life free of violence, whether it is verbal, emotional, financial, physical, sexual or a combination of all. No woman deserves violence. Only the perpetrator is responsible for their violent acts.
Maybe you, or someone you know is faced with Intimate Partner violence right now. What can you do? Reach out for help. Go to a trusted friend. Reach out to a shelter, a community organization, or a health care professional. Call the Assaulted Women’s Helpline: www.awhl.org
If you live in Ontario, there is a Shelter close to you. Go to Shelter Safe Ontario www.sheltersafe.ca
You deserve to be safe.
You deserve to love yourself.
You deserve to life without fear and violence.
It is NOT your fault.
Keep well.
Jai Mills, M.S.W., R.S.W.